


Good Things Come in Twos

by Faith



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-24
Updated: 2012-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-14 23:55:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/520845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faith/pseuds/Faith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the day that same-sex marriage is finally legalized in Washington State, Callie goes out of her way to surprise her recuperating wife by throwing an impromptu wedding in the general surgical wing. [co-written with strandedinaber on Livejournal.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Things Come in Twos

**Author's Note:**

> This was based on the assumption back in June that the law would officially pass. Unfortunately it did not, but we still wanted to post this fic. Some elements may become AU depending on Arizona’s status once season 9 starts.

Callie leaned against the doorframe of room 241, eyes raking over the still form on the bed in front of her. 

Now three weeks into her recovery, Arizona had been moved to a blessedly private room away from the typical hustle and bustle of the surgical floor. A surgeon’s medical insurance had its perks. An additional perk was the now-permanent cot set to the right of Arizona’s bed, and the pack-n-play stolen from daycare in the corner. It had become a home away from home, a fact that Callie both hated and reveled in. Because it could have turned out _so much worse_ , the voice in the back of her mind reminded her; with it, the guilt of feeling relieved that the worse case scenario had not been theirs.

Reluctant to disturb her wife from what appeared to be a (rare) dreamless sleep, Callie’s eyes darted instead to the monitor, checking heart rate and blood pressure. Comforted, she took the opportunity to assess Arizona’s injuries from a distance. The cuts marring the left side of her face were slowly healing, thanks to Jackson Avery’s surprisingly skillful work, but dark shadows under her eyes and reddened scars still stood out in stark relief against pale skin. Her left leg was elevated by the external fixation rods and a support for her lower calf, but Callie had been reassured they could remove it within the week and was counting the days. She had double - and triple- checked the scans before giving her approval. Barring any unforeseen infection, her wife could finally start to be mobile again.

Which made today’s timing supremely inconvenient. And yet, she didn’t care.

From her half-prone position on the bed, Arizona had a bird’s eye view of the door. She didn’t need Callie to make a noise to know that she was there; she could feel her hovering from a distance, something she tended to do a lot of these days. Her wife had a protective streak that Arizona had not witnessed in the past and it surprised her. She hadn’t encountered a Callie this fierce before -- if she wasn’t on a truckload of pain medication these days, it probably would have turned her on.

The fact that Callie hadn’t been able to operate and install the femur cage herself had nearly driven her mad, but truth be told, Arizona was glad that she hadn’t. She couldn’t imagine the pressure of having to operate on her partner post-car accident and wouldn’t wish the same feelings of responsibility on her now. It was better this way, and Callie’s ortho fellow had done a fantastic job. Or so she assumed; reading x-rays made her still concussed brain hurt.

With her eyes barely open a crack, Arizona allowed herself to watch Callie stare idly at her heart monitor for a few moments longer before finally speaking up. “You going to stand there and watch all day, or am I gonna have to come to you?” Her voice was hoarse, laced with sleep and a deeper level of exhaustion, but a smile twitched at the corners of her mouth nonetheless. For all of the crap that filled her days after falling from the sky, Callie’s beautiful face rarely leaving her side was her lone source of solace. That and the few visits a day she got with Sofia.

Grunting, Arizona fought back a grimace as she moved to push herself up a few inches in bed. The pain in her side was a persistent sonofabitch and she had to bite her bottom lip to keep from making any noise.

Callie moved forward swiftly, seating herself on the edge of Arizona’s bed. Torn between forcing her back to ease the pain and allowing her the independence to manage her own recovery - an argument they’d already had several times - Callie simply rested her hand on Arizona’s shoulder and allowed her to make the decision. That wasn’t to say that if Arizona showed any signs of over-exerting herself she wouldn’t confiscate her pillows and leave her stranded flat on her back.

Arizona pushed herself to sit up a little more before she finally stopped moving. In reality she only shuffled about three or four inches, but the pull on her leg and the abdominal incision from her surgery made it feel like a mile.

As far as she was concerned, that counted as her exercise for the day.

“Hey.” Arizona gave Callie a sleepy smile, relaxing back into the pile of pillows behind her. She licked her dry lips, wishing she had some chap stick handy. “How’s work going?”

“Boring,” Callie informed her, reaching a hand up to tuck a few stray hairs behind Arizona’s ear and letting it linger at her jaw, gently stroking a healing scar. “Except I had two femur fractures this morning alone.” At Arizona’s raised eyebrow, Callie laughed. “I know, right? I hardly ever get those and suddenly they’re everywhere. I gave them to Jenkins and Kepner and took the slightly more sedate tibia break instead.” 

Arizona snorted with laughter. “You can’t avoid femur fractures forever, Calliope.”

“Yeah, well I can try,” Callie sobered, remembering the sight of Arizona’s - _her_ Arizona’s - femur puncturing her thigh as they’d rushed her from the helipad down to the nearest OR. The thought that she’d ever been eager to operate on such a break made her nauseous, frankly. It was significantly harder to separate the patient from the injury when it could have so easily been her wife lying on that table. And so, she gave femur breaks to Kepner.

“Anyway.” Callie visibly pushed the memory aside, forcing herself to focus on Arizona’s dimpled smile in front of her. “Today isn’t about the crash. Today is -- do you know what today is?”

Arizona’s dopey smile slowly faded away, replaced with a brow crinkled in confusion. “Uh...”

They’d already had their wedding anniversary; Sofia was now fourteen months old; and Callie’s insistence of a ‘you kissed me in a dirty bar bathroom’ celebration had long passed.

The look of amusement on her wife’s face didn’t exactly quell the sudden worry that she’d forgotten something big. “I fell out of a plane,” Arizona said dumbly, “you’re gonna have to refresh my memory.”

Suppressing a giggle at Arizona’s excuse, Callie reached for her hand and squeezed it. “This isn’t an old anniversary, sweetie. I’m hoping that we can make it a new one.”

Arizona looked nonplussed and Callie reluctantly concluded that teasing her doped-up wife was probably not in their best interest. “It’s June 7th,” she informed her gently, settling her other hand on Arizona’s right leg. “Three months since gay marriage was approved in Washington. Those who opposed it had until today to file their petition, remember?” Callie had checked. Arizona had followed the news on Washington’s progression towards gay marriage keenly, checking newspaper articles and subscribing them to various newsletters. But in the insanity of the past month, it had slipped her mind. It had slipped Callie’s until one of the newsletters had arrived in her email inbox a week ago. And since then, the only thing she’d thought about was this moment. When she could finally turn to her wife and promise her everything she’d asked for.

Eyes wide open, Arizona squeezed Callie’s hand tightly, a half-sob gathering in her throat.

“They lost, Arizona,” Callie told her, tears gathering in her own eyes. “They lost, and we won.”

“We...o-oh.” Arizona found herself at a loss for words, something that didn’t happen to her very often. The last time she remembered feeling this speechless was when she saw her beautiful bride walking down the aisle towards her. That would always, always be the day she married Calliope Torres in her mind, law or no law. But this, knowing that for once they had won a fight against those trying to take that moment away from them...it was overwhelming. The words she wanted to say caught in her throat and she could do nothing more than swallow them back. Part of which might have been the morphine hindering her processing abilities, but that didn’t stop a well of emotion from rising within her.

They’d won.

Arizona turned her focus back up to the love of her life as it all sunk in. She didn’t even care that the remaining cuts she harbored hurt from the wide grin suddenly stretching across her face. “We did?” she asked quietly, as though she were having a hard time believing it. “Like, really did? Because it’s really mean to play tricks on the crippled kid.”

Callie chose to ignore that last comment, raising a spurious eyebrow in protest. “We really won,” she smiled, nodding her head towards the TV in the corner. “There’s a really big party going on at the moment. We should go.” She smiled secretively and lifted her wife’s hand to her lips.

Arizona fumbled for the bedside remote, still having a few coordination issues with her left arm. She picked it up and turned on the news, pride swelling in her heart when images of celebration from downtown Seattle filled the screen -- pride, and a big wave of disappointment.

“Stupid leg,” she pouted, glancing down at the metal cage holding her femur together. “I can barely get out of bed, let alone go dancing in the streets.” Just shifting in place to try and get more comfortable sent a sharp, shooting pain up through her hip. Groaning, Arizona slumped sideways into Callie, squishing her cheek against the woman’s upper arm. “Ow.”

Callie rearranged them both to slip her arm around Arizona’s shoulders and adjust her position to the one they had discovered was most comfortable. “That better?” she questioned, settling back again at Arizona’s nod. 

Determined not to let her wife fall back into the funk she’d been sporting for the past few weeks (even if it was an entirely understandable one borne of pain, frustration and sheer boredom), Callie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “We could have our own party right here,” she proposed, leaning down to drop a brief kiss on pouting lips. Although she knew nothing could come of it, she missed the flirtatiousness of their relationship; the fact that they couldn’t have sex - which Arizona bemoaned daily, if not hourly - didn’t mean that had to stop. 

Arizona gazed wistfully into her favourite pair of pretty brown eyes, the corners of her mouth twitching up in a playful, if somewhat lopsided smirk. “Be careful how much you tease me, Torres. Just because I’m higher than a kite right now doesn’t mean I can’t take advantage of the girl with the sandwiches.” She giggled at her own stupid little joke that wasn’t really even a joke, then clumsily tried to cradle Callie’s cheek with her left hand. She nearly poked her in the nose. “My leg’s broken, not my fingers.”

Amused, Callie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud and offending her wife. Much as she hated the cause, she kind of loved adorable doped-up flirty Arizona. But then again she loved every kind of Arizona. 

Reaching her hand up to support the fingers trembling on her cheek, Callie squeezed them gently. “I think we’ll leave that for a few weeks, baby,” she decided, wrinkling her nose as she glared at the two large windows facing onto the surgical floor. They’d originally kept the blinds closed, but now Arizona was able to stay awake for more than ten minutes at a time, she liked to people-watch. And call Alex Karev into her room to update her on the peds cases, although she thought Callie didn’t know about that. “At least until you’re off the morphine.”

Callie sighed in mock frustration, smiling into amused blue eyes. Honestly, she hadn’t found herself missing sex at all; it hadn’t been a high priority amongst weeks of fear for Arizona’s long-term health. Callie had been overjoyed when Arizona could finally move enough for her to easily hold her again, though. She wanted to give her wife a proper hug for the first time in weeks.

Scrunching her nose, Arizona released a dramatic sigh to match her wife’s. “You and I officially have the worst luck with transportation getting in the way of our sex life. Can we just walk everywhere from now on, please?” She was partially joking but at the same time, between the car accident and now their ironically reversed positions with the plane crash...

Well, she was never getting on a plane again, and some days getting in a car was still more of a mental task than it should be. She figured they might as well give it up now while they still had the chance. At least Callie had convinced Owen to let her still _have_ a leg to walk around on.

That line of thought somehow led to a tickle of amusement in her chest and Arizona started giggling to herself. She would’ve made an awesome pirate for Halloween. Sofia could have been her parrot.

Recognising the telltale signs of Arizona’s wandering attention span, Callie prudently shelved the question of transportation for another day and simply smiled down at her giddy wife. The past few weeks had been filled with pain, fear and nightmares; hard for Callie to watch, even harder for Arizona to experience. Even if Arizona’s light-heartedness was morphine induced, Callie would take it just for the opportunity to see her smile again. 

After a moment the giddiness died off and Arizona settled into the warm side of her partner, resting her cheek against Callie’s chest. She could hear the strong, steady heartbeat against her ear and remembered back to a year ago when that sound was everything she held dearly. To this very day, she still thanked her lucky stars that everything had turned out the way it did. Never again would she take their life together for granted, and her own accident was just another hiccup they had to endure along the way. All she had been able to think about for twenty-four hours while staring at her open femur and coughing up her insides was that she would do anything to see her wife and child one more time. Now that she had the chance for that and so much more, she planned on enjoying every single moment with them. Especially tender ones such as this.

Arizona dropped her gaze and let her hand wander beneath the hem of Callie’s scrub shirt. She smoothed it across impossibly soft skin, tracing her thumb along the abdominal scar that had turned a year old last month. “We match now,” she murmured quietly, that thought creating a faint smile. It was bizarre to her but somehow perfect that they shared the same mark.

Cringing, Callie closed her eyes briefly and tried to ignore the sensation of Arizona’s fingers trembling over sensitive skin. She reached a hand down to settle over Arizona’s, turning it over and intertwining their fingers. “Yeah,” she managed, choking back a lump in her throat. “We match. Sof, too. But we’re both here, and we’re both relatively healthy, considering.”

Considering they’d been the lucky ones. 

In the space of just over a year, they’d come so close to losing everything - _twice_. How fucked up was it that that was _lucky_?

Looking down into concerned - if a little glazed - blue eyes, Callie squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, fighting back the images that arose unbidden. Arizona, eyes wild and terrified as they’d unloaded her from the helicopter; she’d seen Callie waiting for her and tried to smile around her oxygen mask. Arizona, eyes drifting closed a second before the alarms sounded, reverberating in Callie’s ears. 

Arizona squeezed her hand as hard as she could, and Callie happily responded to the tactile sensation; so different from the cold and limp hand in hers less than a month ago. She slipped her arm out from behind slim shoulders and helped Arizona settle back against her pillows, ignoring the pout she received in response. 

“Where are you going?” Arizona whined, tightening her grip on the hand still locked in her own. She had about the strength of a newborn kitten right now, but it was enough to at least pause Callie before she could slip off the bed completely. “You just got here.”

Wriggling out of Arizona’s grip just long enough to turn around and face her, perching a hip on the edge of the bed, Callie rolled her eyes affectionately. “You’re worse than Sofia when I put her down for her nap,” she informed her wife with a smile. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.” Taking Arizona’s left hand in her own and rubbing her thumb across the empty space where Arizona’s wedding ring usually resided, Callie nodded once more towards the muted television set still showing the celebrations downtown.

“Ever,” she reinforced, gripping the hand within hers tightly. “And I know this wasn’t how you wanted to celebrate today. I’m sorry.” Cautiously optimistic about the outcome, Arizona had enthused about street parties and champagne and celebrations going on into the night; first with their daughter and then a far more grown-up celebration after. Those plans had been forgotten in the chaos of the past month, but Callie still remembered the light in Arizona’s eyes as she’d regaled the tale of her first Pride festival. 

That light was fading now as she thought regretfully of the celebrations she so wished to join in, and Callie reached up and tilted Arizona’s chin towards her. “Just because we can’t go dancing in the street or drink ourselves silly with champagne doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate today, Arizona. And we deserve a celebration. So,” Callie took a deep breath, stupidly nervous, “will you please marry me again? Right here, right now? We have our friends here, your parents, and our daughter is only one floor up in daycare. We have everything we need.”

Arizona furrowed her brow and stared up at Callie in confusion. “What?” she asked, wondering if her fuzzy, doped-up plane crash brain was fooling her. “Marry...a-again?” When she received that wonderful smile and a nod in return, Arizona’s eyes widened. She was trying to process the details but she hadn’t yet reached the stage where she could think straight on a high dose of morphine. “But t-there’s...papers, and ministers, and...I can’t walk.”

Callie laughed. “What do you need to walk for? We’ve already walked down the aisle once and I was shaking so much I barely made it without tripping over my dress. Can’t we just sit down in, say, a hospital bed this time?”

Arizona’s forehead scrunched again. “But...” She looked around her hospital room, with its white-wash walls and really ugly furniture. Then she looked down at herself.

Polka-dots, lots of plastic tubing, and no pants.

Eyes widening, Arizona suddenly struggled to sit up a little more. “You have to help me change,” she groaned, grimacing at the sharp pain in her side. It was bad enough that she hadn’t been able to wash her hair in eons; she refused to look like a Tim Burton character on a day like today.

“You look beautiful just as you are.”

Arizona gave Callie a look. “Uh-huh. Because pasty, sweaty and having a hair-tuft, that’s attractive when it comes to wedding photos.”

Callie frowned. “We have to get photos? We have photos of the first one.” 

Arizona’s ‘look’ only deepened. “You asked my _mother_ to come to our second wedding and didn’t expect there to be pictures? _My_ mother? Have you not met her?” She loved her parents dearly and having them around the last few weeks had been great, but she knew if Callie gave Barbara Robbins an inch of leeway in the planning, she would run with it.

Pausing, Callie grinned sheepishly. “Okay, so I didn’t think that part through. You’re right,” she said, ignoring Arizona’s smug smile. “Sponge bath, dry shampoo, and maybe we can even scare up a polka-dot free gown from the gift shop if we’re lucky. Does that sound good to you, Mrs. Robbins-Torres?”

Arizona looked sheepish. “Maybe try and convince Bailey that wearing a scrub shirt for ten minutes won’t send me into cardiac arrest? I think I’m past that point.” Still wearing a hospital gown was definitely not her choice, but the other doctors repeatedly told her it was mandatory for a reason. Right now, though, marrying -- _re_ -marrying -- the woman of her dreams in something not horrendous looking was way more important.

Before Callie could slip off to grab the necessary supplies, Arizona snagged her by the hand and tugged her back towards the bed. “Kiss me?” she asked sweetly, feeling a flurry of butterflies suddenly erupt in her chest. This time the big, dopey smile had nothing to do with the drugs coursing through her veins. She was getting married today. Again.

Leaning over, Callie provided the request willingly, loving the sensation of Arizona smiling into the kiss. “Of course,” she promised, her lips lingering. She only withdrew as Arizona used what little strength she had left to push her playfully away. “Okay, I’m going.” She paused, looking down at herself and suddenly realising that her own appearance hadn’t exactly been a priority lately. But her teeth and hair were brushed and her scrubs didn’t have blood or food on them, so she considered herself adequately dressed to get (re-)married in a hospital room.

Bouncing a little on the balls of her feet, Callie paused at the door and reveled in the smile gracing her wife’s features. “We’re getting married,” she said softly, positive that her heart couldn’t be any fuller than it was in that moment.

“We’re getting married,” Arizona beamed, settling back against her pillows and releasing a happy sigh. “Hurry back.”

***

Aware that her agenda for the day was determined predominantly by Arizona’s energy levels and pain management, Callie did hurry. She left her wife in the charge of her highly excited mother-in-law, putting the elder Robbins on sponge-bath-and-a-new-shirt duty, despite Arizona’s pouting. The last she’d seen of them, Barbara had been trying - and failing - to tease Arizona’s hair into curls. Considering that Arizona had been confined to bed for three weeks, Callie appreciated her commitment but anticipated failure. 

She was very sure that the person with her would bring a smile to Arizona’s face though, and Callie paused to bounce Sofia on her hip, offering her a dazzling smile. “Hey, Sof, are you excited to see Momma? You have to give her a big hug but be gentle-gentle-gentle, just like we talked about, okay?” Sofia grinned back at her, unaware of exactly what was going on but knowing she was going to see her momma and picking up on her mami’s enthusiasm.

Distracted by her daughter, Callie turned to enter the room and stopped in her tracks, stunned into silence. She wasn’t sure how they’d managed it, but Barbara - with a helping hand from the nurses - had managed to get Arizona sitting up in bed among fresh sheets. Her gown had been replaced with the requested scrub top, a familiar golden heart nestled in between her breasts. Her hair was hanging loosely as she’d expected, but with curls that still reminded her of their first wedding day. And she was smiling in a way Callie hadn’t seen since before the accident.

She looked every bit as beautiful as she had in full makeup and an expensive gown, standing at the bottom of the aisle waiting for her.

Though the effort to get this far had been exhausting, Arizona started buzzing with excitement the moment Callie and their daughter walked through that door. She missed Sofia more than words could ever capture, so the sight of their bubbly, smiling daughter grinning from her mami’s arms made Arizona’s heart swell three sizes.

“Hi, baby girl,” she cooed, silently cursing this contraption on her leg, the thing that kept her from being able to hold her favourite tiny human.

Sofia twisted around in Callie’s arms, suddenly beginning to fuss and kick her legs as Arizona’s voice reached her ears. “Ma!”

Callie laughed out loud as Sofia attempted to launch herself from her arms. “Yeah, I’m not all that interesting anymore, am I?” she asked of her daughter playfully. “That’s okay. I want Momma around all the time again, too. We’re getting a little bored of each other, aren’t we?”

Arizona’s mouth opened in mock affront. “You did not just say you’re bored of our daughter!” she accused. “Poor baby. Give her to me, I’ll cuddle her.” Arizona opened her arms expectantly, eyes fixated on her wriggling toddler.

“Not bored,” Callie reassured her, eyes shining. “But we miss you. And she is definitely bored of me. She can’t quite figure out how she’s gone from three full-time parents to one, effectively.” She moved towards the bed swiftly as Sofia’s whines increased in volume, perching herself on Arizona’s right side and settling Sofia on her own leg, hands gripped firmly around the tiny waist. They’d learned early on that Sofia’s magpie tendencies meant that she made a grab for the shiny thing on her momma’s leg whenever she was provided with the opportunity.

Arizona remembered that all too vividly. Not crying like a giant baby in front of her baby girl had been a chore. Right now, though, she couldn’t keep the ear-splitting grin from her features as she leaned over to hug Sofia the best she could. “I’ve missed you so much,” she murmured, chuckling at the ‘You’re suffocating me ‘ squeak she received in return. She pulled back and brushed dark hair from Sofia’s brow, placing a loving kiss against her forehead.

Sofia immediately latched onto her momma’s left index finger and showed off her strong grip by refusing to let go. Arizona had removed the fingertip heart monitor just for the occasion -- it was another thing Sofia yearned to play with.

Arizona glanced up at her wife and tried not to look too teary eyed. “She’s getting so big. When did that happen?”

Callie shrugged and beamed; nothing filled her soul with as much joy as seeing her daughter and her wife together. “I don’t know, but I wish she’d stop it.” She leaned down to blow a raspberry against Sofia’s soft cheek, enjoying the giggles that bubbled forth as Sofia bounced determinedly on her lap on an attempt to get onto the bed. “Hey, stop that. No. You know you’re supposed to stay here,” she mock scolded, laughing as Sofia gave her a wide-eyed stare in response and gripped Arizona’s fingers more tightly. She knew the meaning of the word no - well - just chose to ignore it as often as possible.

“Good girl,” Arizona replied approvingly, receiving a toothy grin in response. “Hey, Sof, guess what? Your mommies are getting married today, and this time you’re big enough to actually be here!”

Sofia blinked at her with wide eyes.

“You shoulda seen your Mami the very first time,” Arizona continued. “Prettiest girl I ever lay eyes on. Nearly fainted when I saw her coming down the aisle, I did.” She stretched her neck out so she could plant a loving kiss on her wife’s cheek, leaning affectionately (and necessarily) into her side. She saw her mom out of the corner of her eye, beaming at the two of them with her hands clasped in front of her mouth. She only hoped the woman wouldn’t start crying again; every time she did these days it set Arizona off, too.

Sofia wiggled in Callie’s grasp, desperate to try and get into her momma’s arms. Arizona longed to scoop her up and smother her with kisses, but the broken ribs were still healing and her surgical incisions were still tender. Then there was the whole issue of the metallic beast encasing her left leg. “Can you help her stand on the bed?” Arizona looked hopefully at her wife, figuring it was the easiest way to try a baby-hug. “I need my Sof snuggles.”

Callie eyed Sofia suspiciously. “What do you think? Are you gonna behave?”

“Bah!” Sofia blew bubbles at her mami and Arizona cracked up laughing.

Scowling in mock insult, Callie stuck her tongue out at her daughter in retaliation. “Well, even if you are a rude little girl, let’s give it a try.” She shuffled closer, lifting Sofia up bodily by her underarms, and settled her on wobbly legs on the bed. She’d started walking just before the accident, but standing on a soft bed was a different beast altogether to walking on solid ground. Holding her carefully - for both Sofia’s and Arizona’s protection - Callie settled her against Arizona’s right side. For a moment Sofia just _leaned_ there, content to drool against the side of her mother’s clean scrub top, before she realised she’d been freed from the confines of her mami’s lap and waved her arms in an attempt at an awkward pseudo-hug.

That time Arizona nearly did cry. She brought her left arm across her body, careful not to wrench her IV out, and cuddled Sofia against her right shoulder. “Hi, baby girl,” she murmured, feeling her heart swell three sizes when her favourite tiny human hugged her back. Sofia almost seemed to sense the delicacy of the situation and refrained from struggling in Callie’s firm grip.

“Oh, let me get a picture of this,” Barbara Robbins gushed, fumbling for her purse that she had stashed in the far guest chair.

“Mom,” Arizona half-whined, though she was too busy enjoying her daughter to put up much of a protest. “Can’t we keep the pictures to a minimum?” As usual, her protests went unanswered and she could hear the camera shutter snapping away on the other side of Callie.

Callie laughed, bouncing Sofia as the little girl grew bored of standing still and made a grab for Arizona’s IV cord. “Nu-uh,” she scolded lightly. “Naughty.” She settled her back on her lap again, looking up at Arizona’s shining face. She’d learned early on that the fastest way to boost Arizona’s spirits was to allow her just a few minutes with Sofia; right now she was almost glowing despite the tears.

“Are you ready to move this along?” she questioned lightly, reaching across to help Arizona resettle the IV cords. “I don’t particularly want you to fall asleep in the middle of the vows, even if we _have_ said them before,” she teased, winking to take the sting out of it. 

Despite the absence of her warm baby girl snuggled into her shoulder, Arizona smiled at her wife and nodded. “I’m ready.” She had asked the nurses to cut back on the medication for a short period of time. She wanted to remember this, not be stoned out of her mind for the whole process.

Given that Sofia had been a distraction when they’d first arrived, Arizona now took a moment to appreciate her gorgeous, stone-cold-fox of a wife as Callie stood up and handed Sofia off to her grandmother. “Wow,” she chuckled, making a point of cocking a suggestive eyebrow. “You look...do we get a second wedding night? Because I vote we get a second wedding night.” Callie was still in scrubs, but she had her hair long and somehow looked even more radiant than she had earlier that afternoon. Arizona couldn’t stop staring, wondering how she got lucky enough to marry this woman -- twice.

Mrs. Robbins cleared her throat, reminding her daughter that she and Callie had company. She teasingly covered Sofia’s right ear and pressed the baby’s left into her chest. “Shush, dear. You have tiny ears listening.”

Arizona beamed and shook her head. She was willing to press the issue of a second wedding night later, when she was alone with Callie. In the meantime, they had to get to the marriage part first. And, speaking of...

The blonde’s eyes widened as she realized they had one minor issue to deal with. “Uh, Calliope? If we’re staying here, then how are we supposed to get someone to perform the ceremony?” It had been damn near impossible to find a minister the first time around; she highly doubted they could get one to physically come to the hospital on short notice to perform a controversial gay wedding on the first day they were legal.

That thought brought on another moment of panic. Arizona jerked upright just as she started settling back against the pillows again. “Oh crap! T-the papers! Callie, there are papers for this kind of thing!”

Feeling inordinately smug, Callie sat back down on the bed and pushed Arizona back gently. “Don’t do that, idiot. You’ll hurt yourself worse and that really _will_ mess up our plans.”

“But, papers! A-and a minister!” Arizona insisted, leaning back against her pillows nonetheless.

“Arizona, what do you take me for?” Callie questioned teasingly. “Did you really think I’d get you all excited about a second wedding and not have considered the logistics?”

She paused; then took in the awkward silence in the room. “Hey!” Twisting around to catch the amused look on her mother-in-law’s face, she scowled. “Neither of you have enough faith in me,” she pouted. “I might not be the detail-oriented one of the two of us, but even I know we need stuff like ministers and papers.”

Grinning sheepishly, Arizona reached up and lightly tugged on the collar of Callie’s scrubs. “I have plenty of faith in you, baby. That big, sexy brain of yours is half the reason I asked you to marry me in the first place.”

“Oh yeah? What’s the other half?” Callie smiled.

Arizona glanced sideways over wife’s shoulder to where her mother was standing. “I’ll tell you later.” She gave another slight tug until Callie leaned in and kissed her again

“I believe you’re supposed to save that for when you are re-pronounced, dear,” Barbara spoke up. She was teasing, however; nothing made her happier than seeing her daughter glow with happiness like she was right now, especially in light of recent events.

Callie sighed in mock-frustration. “Well, in the interests of not traumatising your mother any further, or our daughter, we have everything we need. Papers and a person who is not only willing to pronounce us but is impatient to. You just wait here and I’ll go get everything, okay?” she questioned, ignoring her previous claim and leaning in to drop another kiss on willing lips before dashing from the room.

Arizona paused, glancing up at her mother. “Where exactly does she expect me to go?” she demanded, gesturing at the lower half of her body.

“With you, sweetheart, I think it’s a necessary request,” Barbara chuckled. She juggled Sofia to her other arm and checked her watch. “Now where on earth is that father of yours?”

***

Heart pounding with excitement, Callie dashed through the halls of Seattle Grace - Mercy West in search of her target. If she’d gone into surgery _now_ , Callie was going to kill her. After all of the effort spent getting Arizona ready for the event, it would be a real shame to have to put it off.

After some frantic searching and much cursing under her breath, Callie found the object of her focus in a deserted office. “There you are!”

Miranda Bailey looked up from the desk, unimpressed at the interruption. “What do you want? I’m busy.” She indicated the strawberry milkshake she was currently working on and a small stack of forms sitting in front of her.

Callie twitched and fixed her colleague with a look. “Seriously?”

It took a moment for the other woman to clue in. “Oh damn, is that today?” Bailey shook her head and set her milkshake aside. “I thought Robbins was still being pumped full of happy drugs. You sure she’ll remember everything in the morning?”

Nodding impatiently, Callie dared to reach over and slap Bailey’s chart closed, receiving a raised eyebrow in response. “Yeah, she’s been weaning herself off of them. I think it’s too early, but she says they make her feel funny. And she seems to be coping okay. Vitals are all excellent for this stage in her recovery.” Impatient, Callie bounced on the balls of her feet. “She’s okay. She’s great. _We’re_ great. Please, Miranda, because she is really not that good at staying awake at the moment and I kind of want her awake for this.”

“Hold your horses,” Bailey ordered, nevertheless bundling her papers together and shoving them into a drawer, locking it and pocketing the key. She glanced down at herself, noting the wrinkled scrubs telling of a long shift. “Should I change?” She sniffed, suspiciously, and messed with her hair. 

Callie shook her head. “No need. Arizona and I are both wearing scrubs. It’ll be a theme. I should make her parents change,” as she attempted to suppress a snort of laughter at the vision of the staid and plaid Colonel in scrubs.

“That won’t be necessary,” came a familiar voice from over her shoulder. Callie turned to find Colonel Robbins smiling at her, clad in a nice suit jacket and slacks. “Her mother already made me change twice this morning. An old man like me only has so much energy.”

He strolled over and shook Bailey’s hand cordially. “Miranda, how wonderful to see you again. My family owes you a great deal of thanks for your efforts, twice now. If there’s ever anything I can do...”

“You can get your daughter to stop barking orders at the nurses and trying to diagnose her own chart,” Bailey mused. “She is, without a doubt, the worst patient in terms of being a giant pain in my rear end. Sir, with all due respect, sir,” she added with the hint of a smirk.

Daniel actually appeared to grin. “That’s my girl.” He shifted his focus to Callie and took her hand, kissing the back of it like a gentleman should. “And you, my dear, look radiant as always. Barbara and I were so happy to hear you’ve been planning this.”

Callie grinned at her father-in-law, far past her initial fear of him. “I thought we could all do with some good news,” she justified. “And Arizona was so excited about today’s ruling.”

“Quite,” Daniel agreed, a smile upturning the corners of his mouth. “Well, ladies, should we make tracks? I believe Arizona’s impatient to move things along. She says she has an important nap scheduled for sixteen hundred hours and it’s in all of our interests if she can make it.”

Laughing, Callie rolled her eyes lightly. “Well, we wouldn’t want her to miss that, would we?” She paused, remembering what had happened the last time Arizona had severely exceeded her energy limits; she’d spent the next eighteen hours asleep and scared the hell out of all of them. “Actually, we really don’t. Miranda, if you’re ready, I’d like to go and get married again.”

With a quiet sigh, Bailey sucked down the remainder of her milkshake and deposited the cup in the trash. “All right. Let’s do it.”

***

Much to Arizona’s annoyance, she could already feel her energy levels beginning to fade. The short nap she had enjoyed earlier was wearing off but she flat-out refused to close her eyes again, not even for fifteen minutes as her mother was arguing. She didn’t want to miss a moment of this, especially not when Callie came back. The last thing she wanted was for her wife to assume that she wasn’t ecstatic about today.

Still, it was all she could do to lie back against her freshly changed pillows and not close her eyes. The happy drugs were low in her system as per her request, and the dull throb in her leg was starting to grow. “She didn’t have to go pick up this mysterious minister at the airport, did she?” Arizona joked weakly.

Barbara sat in the visitor’s chair with a dozing Sofia slumped against her shoulder. “They should be here any moment, dear,” she said, glancing from her daughter to the door.

Arizona swallowed thickly and was this close to fiddling with her casting rod as a distraction when Callie rounded the corner with her father and Bailey in tow. Despite her sleepy state, she perked up and waved. “Hey, daddy. Bailey. Come to watch the festivities?” She held a hand out towards Callie and waited for her to step closer and take it. “Did you see my pretty lady? I get to keep her.”

Callie grinned, reaching out and gripping the proffered hand. “You already got to keep me. This is just -,” she paused, considering. What exactly _was_ this? Arizona was already her wife. Papers and backward laws couldn’t change how she - how _they_ \- felt. “Today’s insurance,” she decided, squeezing the hand in hers and hearing Arizona’s snort of laughter. 

“Romantic,” Bailey muttered, rolling her eyes. “No, Doctor Robbins, I am not here to observe. I’m here to finish the job properly. And I’m grateful to you all for keeping the audience small this time,” she added, feeling much more within her comfort zone. Scrubs and a hospital room beat uncomfortable high heels and a scratchy dress any day.

A great big and somewhat dopey smile broke out over Arizona’s face. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have re-pronounce us. Though if you try to make me walk down the aisle again, this’ll take longer than you probably have time for with your schedule.” She waited until Callie sat on the edge of her bed and slipped an arm carefully under her back before struggling to sit up, gripping onto Callie’s shoulder for support.

Confident that Arizona was comfortably settled, Callie wriggled into position and slipped her hand into Arizona’s. “If you get to sit down, so do I,” she informed her wife. “And I’d suggest that Sof sit up here with us, but I think we’d be a little distracted by her IV-grabbing,” she decided. “Sof can stay up there and snore away in Grandma’s arms.”

At Arizona’s nod, eyes wide and wet, Callie laughed self-consciously, uncomfortably aware of her in-laws and her colleague beaming at the end of the bed. Not for the first time, she wished it were possible for her and Arizona to simply marry themselves with no audience. Marriage by post-it was seeming more attractive by the minute. But these were their papers, their insurance, their confirmation in the eyes of the law of something they’d long felt. And it was making her wife smile in the hardest of times, so today was the right day.

Bailey suddenly realized that she wasn’t one-hundred percent certain what she was supposed to say. The words from first time had slipped her mind, so she decided to start off with the classic.

“Without further ado, we are gathered here today to celebrate - again - the love between two people that I happen to consider very close friends. To say that you’ve been through a lot together already would be an understatement. I’ve personally seen these two people fight for each other harder than I’ve ever seen anyone in my life. It’s only fitting that the State of Washington finally pulled its head outta its ass and caught up with what the rest of us already know.” She quickly glanced back at the Colonel, who was leaning up against the doorframe. “Sir, excuse my language, sir.”

Arizona let out a bark of laughter and wrapped both of her arms around Callie’s left, resting her cheek on her shoulder. She noticed a small gathering of nurses and nearby doctors outside of the door and windows, watching the proceedings, but neglected to point them out for the sake of Bailey’s nerves.

“Thank you,” Callie grinned cheekily. “We absolutely agree.” Turning her head to the side, she dropped a kiss on Arizona’s temple and snuggled in further.

Bailey fixed her with a pointed look. “I don’t have all day, Torres. You want me to marry you or you want me to chit-chat?”

“I’d rather marry my wife, actually.” Callie received a sharp pinch to her side and she emitted a slight squeak, although smiling at the strength behind Arizona’s fingers. 

“Behave,” Arizona scolded. “Bailey, go on, please.”

“As I was saying,” Bailey cleared her throat and raised her voice to speak over Sofia’s giggles. “We are here today to celebrate the union of these two women.” She paused. What came next again?

Oh, right. Vows.

“Would you like to use your own vows?” she asked, seeing the two women exchange glances with raised eyebrows.

“I might have prepared a little something,” Callie said coyly.

Arizona nearly pinched her again. “And you expect my scrambled-egg mind to come up with something sweet enough on the spot? I’m all concussed.” Despite this, she kind of grinned, because Callie’s mischievous eyebrow wiggle was too cute. “Okay. You first.”

Callie laughed. “I’m totally going first. Did you think I was going to try and compete with a Robbins speech, even a drug-infused one?” Hearing her father-in-law clear his throat, Callie schooled her face into a serious expression and nodded. “Okay, here goes.” She took a deep breath. “Arizona, part of this feels a little redundant because I’ve felt married to you since the moment I put that ring on your finger.” She twisted her own ring gently. “And I never want you to feel that I needed anything else. But I love you so much, and I want to make sure that whatever happens, I can _always_ protect you.”

Damnit. She was going to cry.

“I love you,” Callie repeated, having inevitably forgotten the rest of her prepared speech. “And you have made my life so much better just by being in it, and I can’t wait for the rest of our lives together with Sofia and those nine other babies.” Arizona gave a choked giggle, “But after everything we’ve been through, and all we’ve faced, I want to start the rest of our lives being married to you in every way that I possibly can.” She couldn’t hold back a tiny, helpless shrug at the end, suddenly intimidated by all eyes being on her. And that hadn’t been anywhere _near_ the speech that she’d planned. It didn’t matter, though. Arizona knew - she always knew.

Even if she weren’t an emotional mess these days with the cocktail of drugs Bailey and Hunt had swimming through her system, Arizona wouldn’t have been able to hold back the few tears that slipped loose. “Calliope,” she breathed, bunching her fist around the collar of her wife’s scrub shirt and giving it a light tug until their lips met in a sweet kiss.

Barbara Robbins made a small noise and pressed a hand over her heart. Sofia continued to stay docile in her grandmother’s arms, lightly gumming at her fist and staring at her grandfather from across the room.

It wasn’t until Bailey cleared her throat pointedly that Arizona broke the kiss and looked back at her.

“You’re supposed to talk first,” the general surgeon said bluntly, the hint of a smirk forming.

Arizona tried to wade through the happy jumble that was her thoughts right now to come up with something that would be remotely good enough to say to her wife. After a few seconds of hesitation, she just went for it.

“Calliope Torres, the moment you entered my life, you changed me forever. I’d never met someone so strong-willed, driven, stubborn and sexy in my entire life.” She grinned when Callie laughed softly before continuing. “You were like this force of nature and it’s all I could do to keep up with you, but I loved it. Every single minute of it. I know we’ve been through hell to get to where we are today, but I feel like it was all worth it somehow because now I know that I could never live without you by my side. Ever. You and Sofia mean... _everything_ to me, and I want to spend the next fifty or sixty years proving that to you. I love you.”

Beaming, Callie bounced a little on the bed, squeezing Arizona’s hand tightly. “I love you, too,” she murmured, deciding that she couldn’t possibly say those words too often today. Or ever, in fact. Arizona grinned back at her, leaning in a little.

“Wait!” Bailey ordered, making them jump apart again. “ _You_ asked me to marry you both - stop being so impatient! You’ve got the rest of your lives for kissing, and most of it can wait until I, and your parents, and your daughter, are out of the room.”

Heaving a long-suffering sigh, Callie shifted back. “Fine,” she said, faux-grumpily. “But hurry up already so we can get to the kissing.” Arizona’s hand squeezed in hers, a subtle “be nice” warning. 

Bailey set Callie with one of her infamous ‘Looks’, however she managed to refrain from smacking her upside the head as it was her wedding day. “If she falls asleep because this took too long, it’s your fault,” she said smugly.

Arizona tightened her grip on Callie’s arm. “Not falling asleep,” she mumbled, extremely determined to make it at the very least halfway through their celebrations that came after the ceremony.

Bailey thought about what came next. “Are we doing a ring thing?” She looked at the one Callie was still wearing but knew Robbins couldn’t have her own on in case of post-trauma swelling.

Arizona glanced down at herself and pulled the heart-shaped necklace from out of her scrub shirt, and on the silver chain was her wedding band. Her mother had kept them both at the apartment so no one lost them but remembered to bring them in for today’s celebrations. As far as Arizona was concerned, these two things needed to be present when they celebrated how much they meant to each other.

Turning to her wife, Callie raised one eyebrow in question. “What do you think? I thought that we could skip that part, since you probably shouldn’t be wearing it just yet. Plus,” she wiggled her own ring finger, “I didn’t think far enough in advance to take mine off. And I’m sure it must be jinxing something to remove a wedding ring during a wedding ceremony.” Callie gave an exaggerated shiver of fear, and Arizona laughed.

“You have my ring on your finger, that’s all that matters to me,” Arizona agreed. She lifted Callie’s left hand and pressed her lips to the white-gold band. “No jinxing. We’re good. Please continue,” she said to Bailey.

Bailey’s mind raced as she tried to come up with what to say next. “Uhh...hang on, I got this.” She frowned and mumbled through everything they had done this far, hoping the next bit came to her in a moment of clarity. “Well damn. I think this means that I now pronounce you. Again.”

Arizona lifted an eyebrow. “You think? Or you do?”

Bailey shook her head and cleared her throat authoritatively. “By the power vested in me by the state of Washington and MarryMe.org, I now re-pronounce you, hopefully for the final time, wife and wife. _Now_ you can kiss the bride, Torres. Just don’t get nasty.”

“About time,” Callie teased, laughing as her father-in-law’s and colleague’s eyes rolled in synchronicity. She shifted on the bed to face Arizona, reaching up with both hands and caressing the dimples popping in her cheeks. “Happy second wedding day,” Callie murmured, leaning in and dropping a quick kiss on her _legal_ wife’s lips. And then another, just because she could.

The small crowd that had gathered in the hallway outside gave a round of scattered applause, many smiling faces peering in at them with congratulations. Arizona beamed happily at her gorgeous wife. “I love you,” she repeated, because it really couldn’t be said enough.

Behind them, Sofia - who had been surprisingly silent for the whole ceremony - let out an indignant whimper, and her grandmother bounced her in an attempt to hush her. At just over a year old, Sofia had successfully mastered walking and hence objected vocally to being held for any length of time. Laughing, Callie withdrew from Arizona’s tempting - and now pouting - lips, standing up and reclaiming their daughter from her grandmother. “Hey, hey, hey,” she scolded lightly. “No whining. Your mommies just got married again, Sofia. It’s a happy day!” Unimpressed, Sofia wriggled and kicked at her side, pointing firmly at the floor.

“Fine, be that way,” Callie shrugged, depositing her on the floor and reclaiming her space on Arizona’s bed.

Arizona watched Sofia like a hawk as her little mini Torres made a stumbling dash right for the door, ever the little escape artist. Fortunately she was intercepted by Daniel Robbins, who kept her from motoring into the hallway, allowing Arizona to relax again.

Someone placed a plastic champagne glass full of a bubbly substance in her hand, and Arizona frowned at it suspiciously.

“Non-alcoholic, dear,” Barbara said with a small wink before handing her daughter-in-law another plastic glass with the real stuff in it. “And there’s cake we’re saving for after you’ve had a bit of a rest.” She left the two of them to have a moment by themselves on the bed.

With only eyes for her girl, Arizona beamed at Callie and lifted her glass in celebration. “To us,” she stated.

Callie lifted her own glass, clinking plastic against plastic and smiling back at her tired but happy wife as their fingers intertwined.

“To us.”


End file.
